Don’t expect an ‘I voted’ sticker when you go to vote Saturday

Louisiana state government won’t be providing “I voted” stickers to polling places for Saturday’s election (Dec. 8), though some local elections officials may provide them.

“I am trying to balance our cuts that we took this budget cycle. ... We had to deal with a lot of little things here and there,” and there wasn’t money available for stickers, said interim Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin in an interview Wednesday. “That’s not to say some clerks couldn’t do it on their own and some do.”

Among the extra expenses that the Louisiana Department of State had to absorb this year was legal costs related to sexual harassment allegations made against former Secretary of State Tom Schedler. Ardoin took over for Schedler in May after Schedler resigned because of the accusations. The bill to settle the lawsuit against Schedler was a little less than $184,000, of which Ardoin’s agency had to pay at least $90,000 this fall.

Not everyone will be missing out on “I voted” stickers this weekend, though. St. Tammany Parish Clerk of Court Melissa Henry has already purchased special St. Tammany-specific stickers. Henry’s office is paying for the stickers out of its own budget. Her office said it purchased 50,000 stickers for around $842.

Ardoin said “I voted” stickers are distributed during the early voting period -- though not on election day -- as a way to promote the upcoming election and encourage early participation. He also said Louisiana’s Department of State, which oversees elections, has never regularly provided “I voted” stickers to polling stations on election day. The agency only did it once during the decade that he has worked in the office. In 2016, it handed out commemorative Blue Dog “I voted” stickers that became very popular.

More attention has been drawn to the absence of “I voted” stickers during the past few election cycles because they are popular on social media. People like to promote election day and voting by posting pictures of their “I voted” stickers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Some businesses have also started offering discounts to customers who can show an “I voted” sticker at the counter.

In November, during the high-profile midterm elections, some voters across the state were frustrated when they missed out on election day stickers. They complained about the lack of stickers on social media, which caused a public disagreement between Ardoin and local clerks of court in Louisiana in the middle of collecting ballots. Ardoin told reporters and stated on social media that clerks of court were responsible for the stickers. Some clerks shot back that the stickers were the state’s responsibility to provide.

If she beats Ardoin, Collins-Greenup said providing “I voted” stickers would be a budget priority for her as secretary of state.

“I could look at the budget and do everything I can to implement that each election cycle,” she said in an interview. “It’s just a memory for people, like high school students that were voting for their first time. They were looking forward to that I’m sure.”